While visiting one of my parents at a brand new healthcare facility, another patient’s visiting family member was in need of paramedics. The paramedics were called and pulled up to the main entry door. The entry system is controlled by an access control system and access is granted by the facilities staff or access card. As I observed from a distance, I watched as the EMS team stands outside, waiting. As critical time passed, the EMS team did eventually gain access to treat the person in need, only after a lengthened and unnecessary delay. It could very well be that there is trend starting here, where a lack of proper planning or design results in emergency crews being restricted or locked out of a call.
With popular methods of emergency entry typically meeting approvals of fire safety, it is unlikely that other public safety agencies or private security providers are included in the selection process.When both public and private agencies have to rely on independent solutions there becomes a complicated issue where each response agency will be responsible for even more key codes, keys, access cards or transmitters making it costly and inefficient.